The story of Mackinlay`s Rare Old Highland Malt

The story of Mackinlay’s Rare Old Highland Malt
telling how it came to be shipped south to Antarctica
by Ernest Shackleton, only to be abandoned and buried
deep in the ice, before eventually being rediscovered a
century later, and faithfully re-created for you to enjoy.
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explore www.enduring-spirit.com
There’s a lot of story to be told in this bottle of
Mackinlay’s Rare Old Highland Malt.
A meticulous re-creation of the original malt whisky shipped
to Antarctica in 1907 by Shackleton to fortify his ‘Nimrod’
expedition, this select dram has been a long, long time in
the making.
Abandoned to the Antarctic winter in early 1909, five
wooden crates of the expedition whisky were buried in the
ice beneath Shackleton’s hut. Unearthed a century later by
the New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust, a single crate
was flown to Canterbury Museum in Christchurch, New
Zealand for conservation in 2010. Heralded as ‘a gift from
heaven for whisky lovers’, this long-lost malt provided the
inspiration and critical insight for our timeless re-creation.
The result celebrates the unique character of both man
and malt. It captures the enduring spirit of another time.
THE
JOURNEY
begins
The year is 1897 and in the heart of the Scottish Highlands,
a distillery worker takes one last look at the rows of oak casks
freshly filled with the fledgling new make spirit and slowly
pulls the heavy door shut on the cool, dark warehouse. This
is Glen Mhor Distillery, Inverness, and the solid casks will
sit slumbering for the passing years as the old wood slowly
imparts its unique flavour on the maturing spirit.
Bottled in 1907 as Mackinlay’s Rare Old Highland Malt,
this fine whisky was recognised as one of the classic
Highland malts of its day. It is therefore no surprise when
Mackinlay’s receive an order from the famous explorer
Ernest Shackleton for a total of 25 cases – one of the more
indulgent items included among the provisions designed
to sustain his British Antarctic Expedition of 1907.
THE
NIMROD
Expedition
Commemorative labels mark the whisky as selected for
the ‘Endurance expedition’, but as the preparations for
the expedition evolve, Shackleton has to settle for another,
older vessel, the Nimrod. And so in August 1907 it is aboard
this sturdy little ship, as she prepares to sail from London,
that the wooden crates of whisky are safely stored and
made ready for their long and arduous journey.
Sailing south for Antarctica via New Zealand, the Nimrod
arrives in McMurdo Sound on 29 January 1908. Landing
at Cape Royds, Shackleton identifies a suitable site to erect
the expedition’s wooden hut. His party battle with difficult
conditions for days as they struggle to land all the stores
and equipment. With space at a premium, the precious
crates of whisky are stored beneath the hut, and the men
embrace expedition life, preparing for the adventures ahead.
THE
ANTARCTIC
adventure
Established in their base camp, the members of the Nimrod
expedition set about completing an extensive programme
of scientific work, but their primary aim is to reach both the
South Pole and the Magnetic South Pole – with Shackleton
himself leading the attempt on the former.
So in November 1908, Shackleton and three of his team
embark on their long march to the South Pole. A gruelling and
difficult journey brings the men to the edge of starvation and
they eventually fall short of their ultimate goal by less than 100
miles. However, the legendary leadership skills of Shackleton
ensure that all four return safely to base camp in late February
1909. And, as the winter sea ice begins to form and the
blizzards return, the expedition hurriedly sails away from
Cape Royds in March 1909 – leaving behind several crates of
the whisky buried in the cold, icy darkness beneath the hut.
Inside Shackleton’s hut at Cape Royds
A
STUNNING
discover y
In February 2007, after almost a century entombed in
thick ice, two crates of Shackleton’s whisky are uncovered
by a team from the New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust.
The team are carrying out conservation work on the aging
expedition hut when they make their stunning discovery.
However, in line with international protocols agreed by the
original 12 Antarctic Treaty Nations, the crates cannot be
removed from Antarctica unless it is for conservation or
scientific reasons. So more time passes. But then in early
2010, one crate of the whisky is painstakingly removed
from the ice by members of the Heritage Trust and flown
directly back to Canterbury Museum for expert analysis.
Eventually, this crate will be returned to Antarctica and
placed once again in its icy tomb beneath the expedition
hut – just one of some 17,000 artefacts which the Heritage
Trust cares for across this frozen continent.
THE GREAT
WHISK Y
thaw
In Canterbury Museum, the temporarily liberated crate of
Mackinlay’s Rare Old Highland Malt is slowly de-frosted in
a purpose-built cool room. Over a two-week period in mid2010, while captured in the increasing glare of worldwide
media interest, the temperature of the crate itself is raised
extremely slowly from around -20ºC to 0ºC.
As the ice inside the crate gradually thaws, the team of
conservators are able to examine the contents and are
eventually delighted to recover 11 bottles, 10 of which are
perfectly intact, still wrapped in protective paper and straw.
Intriguingly, however, one bottle is missing; a fact that
appears consistent with the evidence which suggests
that the crate has been forced open once upon a time.
Nicola Dunn works on one of the whisky bottles at Canterbury Museum
A GIFT FROM
HEAVEN
With the whisky finally freed from the frozen crate, the
museum conservators are able to complete their detailed
analysis of the packaging, labels and bottles. However, the
global spotlight is now intensely focused on what these
precious artefact bottles contain – a Highland malt whisky
that is already well over 100 years old.
Indeed, never before in the history of whisky have experts
had access to a century old bottle of whisky that has been
stored in a natural fridge well beyond human reach. So it
is arguably only a slight exaggeration when this rare and
valuable malt is described as ‘a gift from heaven for whisky
lovers’ by Richard Paterson, master blender at Whyte &
Mackay, the owners of the Mackinlay brand. And, with
the bottles now ice-free, plans are made to undertake an
analysis of the whisky so that it can be re-created in all
its long-lost glory.
Richard Paterson, Master Blender, Whyte & Mackay
THE
JOURNEY
home
In January 2011, after months of intense negotiations,
three bottles of the Mackinlay whisky finally begin their
return journey to the Highlands of Scotland. The bottles
are deemed so rare that the Antarctic Heritage Trust
refuses to let them travel unaccompanied or to be placed
in the hold of a plane. So they are personally collected
by Whyte & Mackay company owner, Dr Vijay Mallya,
and flown back to Scotland onboard his private jet.
Arriving home in Scotland, for the first time in more than
100 years, the whisky is transported to Whyte & Mackay’s
Invergordon Spirit Laboratory for detailed scientific analysis.
Master blender, Richard Paterson, and his expert team led
by Dr James Pryde, spend several weeks in the laboratory
nosing, tasting and deconstructing the whisky to reveal its
true heritage. Once this analysis is complete, the three
bottles are flown back to New Zealand and the adventure
of re-creating this celebrated whisky begins in earnest.
Dr Vijay Mallya, Whyte & Mackay
THE
SPIRIT
exposed
The analysis of the whisky first determines its strength at
47.3% alc/vol – as there was no mandatory requirement to
display this fact, or the age of the whisky, on the label in 1907.
The team proceeds to describe the whisky as light honey in
colour, straw gold with shimmering highlights, and with an
aroma that is soft, elegant and refined on the nose. Indeed,
detailed nosing reveals delicate aromas of crushed apple,
pear and fresh pineapple with notes of oak shavings, smoke
and hints of buttery vanilla, creamy caramel and nutmeg.
And, finally, the tasting reveals a spirit that has plenty of
impact on the palate; a tantalising array of flavours that is
both harmonious and exhilarating.
It is heralded as a spirit of adventure and passion, an
evocative tribute to the Mackinlay family whose skill and
dedication produced a whisky of such unique quality.
THE
HERITAGE
revealed
Beyond establishing the taste profile of the whisky, the
team’s detailed and rigorous analysis reveals much more.
Analysis of the cask extractives show that the spirit was
matured in American white oak sherry casks, while testing
of the phenol content, which is lighter than expected for a
whisky of this period, reveals that the peat used for the malting
originated in the Orkney Islands. Indeed, documentary
evidence supports this, recording the supply of peat to both
Glen Mhor and Glen Albyn distilleries in Inverness from the
Isle of Eday in Orkney during the early 1900s.
Final examination of each bottle delivers almost identical
spirit profiles, suggesting that these far-travelled bottles may
be representative of all whisky made at Glen Mhor. In fact,
the analysis shows that the Mackinlay’s Rare Old Highland
Malt is a spirit which sits comfortably within the parameters
of a single malt Scotch whisky being produced today.
A
PASSIONATE
re-creation
Inspired by their analysis, the team embarks on the challenge
to re-create this whisky. The first task is to acquire malt from
Glen Mhor. The distillery was demolished in 1986, but limited
stocks are combined with malt from Dalmore Distillery, a close
neighbour of Glen Mhor, to provide the base of the re-creation.
To add the floral flavours, Speyside malts such as Longmorn,
Benriach, Glenfarclas, Mannochmore, Tamnavulin and Glen
Rothes are selected and combined with Highland whiskies
from Balblair and Pulteney, along with a hint of aged Jura, to
complete this puzzle. A masterful mix of malts varying in age
from eight to 30 years – all married in the finest sherry butts.
Alongside the spirit, the bottle and packaging are painstakingly
re-created. Bubbles in the glass make each bottle unique, while
hand-lettering and labelling techniques from the early 20th
century provide whisky lovers with a truly authentic re-creation
of the whisky once enjoyed by Shackleton and his intrepid team.
THE
ENDURING
spirit
And so we arrive at this bottle, this re-creation of the original
Mackinlay Rare Old Highland Malt returned from the ice.
Every whisky is an adventure, but this one more than most.
It is an adventure that began when the new make spirit was
sealed in its cask at Glen Mhor distillery. And it continues
with Shackleton and the whisky crates abandoned at Cape
Royds. Many years passed there in the Antarctic, but the
adventure was really just beginning. In the 21st century,
the discovery and analysis of the original malt and its
faithful re-creation have added exhilarating new chapters
to an already epic story.
And now you help add another. With £5 donated to the New
Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust for every bottle purchased,
you can help celebrate the unique character of both man and
malt that brought us to this point. So, raise your glass to...
the enduring spirit of another time.